Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  This week.  Whew.  It was a week where almost nothing went as planned.  

We had to cancel plans, call in grandparent help for rides, alternate taking sick/work from home days for two sick boys and pivot all week long.  Poor Leo is still home sick today.  I'm ready for the weekend while also praying that the rest of us stay healthy.  I'm ready for our regular routine next week.

We still had some favorite moments of the week in spite of the week not going as planned.

1. HomeGoods.  It's my favorite place.  Olive and I picked up a couple of things for her birthday party.  It's not until May, but we like to start collecting party supplies early. Aren't these bows so cute!?

2. Surprise flowers are my favorite.  Pretty bouquet, Kev.

3. I try to keep the ingredients for homemade chicken noodle soup on hand all winter long.  Fletcher wasn't feeling great and he said it was the only thing that would make him feel better.

4. I love changing out my maker's space in my classroom.  It was play-doh last month and now it's a snowman building station.  The kids can play here at indoor recess or sometimes their tables earn a reward to head to maker's space.  They love filling the jars with white beans or cotton balls.  Then they add all the snowman accessories.

5. Leo loves to bake and it's my favorite.

6. Did you see my word of the year?  I wrote about it earlier this week.

7. Pearl.  She's not super friendly to everyone, but she loves me and loves Kevin.

8. When you find art that you LOVE at Marshalls, it must come home with you.  Stay tuned to a little makeover project I'm working on upstairs.

9. Lots of working from home.  Mr. Mittens needed some attention.

10. Yummy school lunches were our favorite.  The kids said they would cry if they had to eat school lunch.  I'm glad they appreciate a yummy lunch from home.

11. Sweet teachers.  Fletcher's teacher lets them pick a BIG candy when they hit big math goals.  He was so happy to get to place his order for sweet tart ropes.

12. Zero the Hero showed up to celebrate the 100th day of school with the kindergarten.  Our superintendent had so much fun being a super hero.  I'm not sure who loved singing and dancing with him more - the kids or him.  The kids loved their super hero Tootsie Roll pops.

13. A perk of me being home more is more time with Olive in the mornings.

14. I'm thankful that Mr. Mittens survived this week.  Let's just say he got himself into big trouble and he lost a couple of his lives.  Check back in next week for that scary story.

15. Bath time is the best time.  Leo took several baths this week and he loved it.  We don't usually have leisurely baths so this was a treat.

16. Iced coffee was life this week.

17. Lots of naps.

18. And these two are making progress in the friend department which is my favorite.  One day I'll find them snuggling and my heart will burst.

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  I'll see you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Momfessionals

2025 Word of the Year

I had to get this post in before the end of January!  New year.  New word.  

This is my 13th year selecting a word of the year.  I only saw a couple other people talking about their word of the year this new year and that is okay by me.  It is one of my favorite new year traditions and it seems to work better for me than making a list of new year's resolutions.

Here's a quick word of the year recap going back to 2013.  

It starts back in 2013 when I became a mom.  That was definitely a big year of change for me - a move from UT to AR, going from teaching 3rd grade to being a full time mom and adding Olive to the family.  Fast forward to 2024 and my word was cherish.  I didn't realize in January of 2024 that I'd be returning to teaching and we'd all be going back to school in the Fall.  I am thankful that cherish was my focus because I learned how to cherish more than ever last year.

2024: Cherish

2023: Shine

2022: Home

2021: Focus

2020: Family

2019: Listen

2018: Grow

2017: Care    

2016: Invite

2015: Enjoy

2014: Thrive

2013: Change

My 2025 word of the year is: ACTIVE!

Art by Leo.

I want to... 

Be ACTIVE with my kids.  Go on walks, exercise regularly, ride bikes, hike, play and say yes to their requests to be on the go and play.  Each of my kids has different interests and different love languages.  I want to actively connect with each one of them this year.  It's easy to work all week and crash on the weekends.  I want to do more connecting this year.

Be ACTIVE with my friendships.  It's easy get focused on my own busy schedule and stay in the routine of texting/checking in with friends.  I want to be the inviter, the plan maker and be sure to stay connected with my favorite people. And that means continuing with my blog and being better and replying to your sweet comments in the new year.  

Be ACTIVE in my school.  Get to know everyone better.  Learn more names.  Get to know families.  Make new friends.  Help Fletcher & Leo to connect with friends.  Reach out to people for help when I need it and finish the school year feeling well connected with everyone.  I have worked hard on this all year so I'm feeling good about this goal.

Be ACTIVE at church.  I enjoy participating in a couple different ministries, but it's been a challenge to stay connected and work full time.  I think there's a way to do both so my hope is to find a way to be active at church even though I'm missing out on all the week day stuff I used to do with my mom friends.

Be ACTIVE in my hobbies and in learning new things.  I love to blog, take pictures, garden, bake, make Bundt cakes, travel, organize, decorate and craft.  We have big dreams for our garden this year.  Maybe even a wild flower garden like ones we saw in Wisconsin.  Frame and print the pictures.  Read the stack of books sitting on my desk.  I have supplies to do lots of fun projects around the house.  Maybe I'll learn a new hobby or two this year.  I want to do more of that and less scrolling on my phone.

Be ACTIVE with my family.  Plan fun things.  Date nights.  Travel.  Play games.  Make yummy food.  Try new recipes.  Run errands together.  Enjoy being together.  Olive heads to junior high later this year so we'll be actively learning all the junior high things.  Kevin is working on some big things for work and we want to cheer for him along the way.

Happy New Year!

Do you have a word of the year or big goals in 2025?  I'd love to hear about them!

5 Minute S'mores Dip

I have the yummiest, easiest dessert recipe to share with you today!

We loved it so much that we made it twice last week.

Hello, S'mores Dip!

It takes 5 minutes to assemble and bake and the ingredient list is really short.

S'mores Dip #1 (my favorite)

Ingredients:
Chocolate Chips or any of your favorite chocolate

Mini Marshmallows

Graham Crackers

Layer the chocolate on the bottom of a pie or loaf pan.  Put mini marshmallows on top.

Bake at 400 for 2-3 minutes.  Watch it closely! The marshmallows toast fast.  Remove it from the oven when the marshmallows are at your perfect level of toasty.  Let it sit for a couple minutes to ensure that the chocolate is good and melty.  Break apart graham crackers for dipping.  Serve your s'mores dip!

This was so much fun to make and eat.  It would be the perfect treat to make for kids, friends, neighbors or your own crew if you need a simple dessert.

S'mores Dip #2 (the kid's favorite)

Fletcher wanted to change up the chocolate so we did Hershey Bars, Cookies & Cream Hershey bars & Reeses cups.  We broke everything up into small bits and did the same process as above.  It took the chocolate chunks just a little longer to melt than the chocolate chips.  Both options are delicious!

Fletcher is such a good helper in the kitchen.  He loved making this with me and loved creating a new recipe with me.  This is the perfect recipe to make with your kids.  Enjoy!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope it's been a good week at your house.  It's been a busy, but great, week at ours.  It seemed like we were all busy all week and are ready for the weekend.  The best parts of our week were:

1. Find mom. Sit on mom.  Leo grabbed a blanket, said I was his best friend and then plopped himself down on my lap.  My favorite part of the weekends!  Snuggles, big breakfasts and getting to stay in our pjs a little longer are my favorite.

2. Strolling the mall.  The older kids love to walk through the mall.  Olive would love these perfect brown Jordans.  They want to sniff everything in Sephora and Bath and Body Works.  And it's just fun to look around the stores with them.

3. Weekends are for laundry and laundry helpers.  Can you spot Penny, Mr. Mittens & Leo??

4. Go Irish!  Our beloved Notre Dame lost in the national title game on Monday, but we were so proud of this team and how well we played.  We love our coach and are optimistic about the days ahead!  Notre Dame will always be #1 to us.

Touchdown push-ups, Mr. Mittens edition.

5. Penny loves Fletcher.  He made sure she was all tucked in.

6. Winter sunrises.  A perk of waking up really early is that we get to enjoy some beautiful winter sunrises in our backyard.

7. Robots!  The 3rd grade is coding and learning how to code with robots.  Fletcher has won some coding awards and it was really fun to see him in action.  The robots were so much fun.  I just love teaching at the same school as the boys.

8. Chin rubs!  Mr. Mittens loves a good chin rub.

9. Fletcher and I have a really yummy recipe to share with you next week!  We made it twice this week :)

Have a great weekend!  I'll see you back here on Monday :)

Preteen Parenting: Get Outside!

My latest preteen parenting tip is to get outside.

This might sound like a funny tip for preteen parents, but you'd be amazed.

It turns out that fresh air, sunshine and time outdoors is good for everyone.

Ignore the notion that they are too big to do silly things.

Buy them a surprise scooter.  They'll think you are ridiculous and then ride it regularly.

Then watch your kids make up fun street games.

Go on a walk.

Chat with your neighbors.

Hop on a bike.

Hit a volleyball with them back and forth even though you have no volleyball skills.

Count while they jump rope.

Draw with sidewalk chalk.

Play ping pong in the garage.

Sit on your front porch and enjoy a lemonade together.  Or maybe a hot chocolate drink.

Race rubber ducks in the rain water coming down your driveway.

Invite the neighbor friends over to play.

Bundle up because winter sunshine can be tons of fun!  I promise.

Just get outside!  It'll be fun for everyone.

Proof.

Best Breakfast Bites

Happy Monday!  It's a big day for our country.  I'm praying for a peaceful inauguration day, calm instead of chaos and brighter days ahead.  And for fun - we have a big game tonight.  Notre Dame vs. Ohio State.  We're cheering hard for ND to win!

Now let's talk about a delicious new recipe.  I found this recipe to try on a snowy day.  I pulled up Shay's Ultimate Sausage Balls recipe, made some changes and renamed them to be my best breakfast bites.  They are delicious!  The kids and I LOVED them!

Ingredients:

1 lb breakfast sausage - cooked, crumbled and drained

1 t of your favorite seasoning (Kinder The Blend it's salt, pepper and garlic)

3-5 pices of cooked thick cut bacon crumbled

1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese

8oz package softened cream cheese

1 1/4 c Bisquick mix

Directions:

Cook your sausauge, crumble it and remove any fatty pieces.  Cook bacon, remove grease and crumble.  Put everything in your mixer and blend until well combined.  Use a cookie scoop to make sure your breakfast bites end up the same size.  Roll into balls and put on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until browned.

*Note: I used light and fluffy pancake mix so mine turned out a little flatter than the original recipe.  I'm going to try Bisquick next tiem to get them to be even fluffier.

We enjoyed them warm, straight from the oven.  They were be so good on any breakfast or brunch buffet and they would be a huge hit.  Some people like to dip them in syrup, but we loved them plain.  They did not reheat very well so I'd recommend making them about an hour before you plan to eat them.  I hope your family enjoys them as much as mine did!